The interaction between the ship repair, ship conversion and shipbuilding industries

Shipyards can undertake a variety of activities, not all related to the construction of new vessels. While there are yards that are largely dedicated to new buildings, and others dedicated to ship repair and maintenance, in practice that distinction is blurred, as both activities can be undertaken in most yards. This report examines the interaction between these yards, in particular how feasible it is for yards to move from one activity to the other, or perhaps to engage in both at the same time. The relevance of this is that if there are few barriers for yards to move between activities, then this will have an impact on the availability of shipbuilding capacity to meet expansions or contractions of new-building demand.